I spent many hours of soul destroying work last night sorting my gallery by popularity, I chose the number of comments on an image as my sort key and set about the tedious task of sorting all 103 images into order. Whilst I was engaged in this mind numbing (and some may say, pointless) task, I got to thinking about what sells and why. Now, I figure that anybody who is on here has probably found themselves asking the same question, because at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if your only on here to learn from others and you’re only interested in feedback. Don’t kid yourself, the best compliment your gonna get on here is when someone likes a piece of your work enough to buy it! It’s a really compelling source of validation, and whats more, its incredibly addictive.
So anyway, sorting my gallery proved to be quite educational (for me at least). I concluded that some of the pieces that seemed unpopular were just that… not very good.. but why? I certainly thought they were good enough to upload at the time, and nobody said, “Hey Trevor that’s a really bad image”... they had just ignored them… hmmm. Then I got to looking at an image I had created specifically as a birthday card – this one:
It’s up for sale as a card only… well it would be, nothing wrong with that… Hmmm it’s only displayed in one group… hmmm well that won’t help much… But thats not the reason surely… (round about this point a small voice in the back of head started muttering)
ah… I put a 50% markup on it so maybe its too expensive…hmm lets see… (the muttering got louder)
£2.03 for a card… oh.. plus P&P hmmm well its a bit pricey, maybe I should drop the price a bit… but even if I cut my markup to 0% it would still be… ummm … £2.25 (incl)
(“and you’d pay that?”)
... well yes actually I would, cos it’s uniqe! ... I did it and its unique…
(“Is it?”)
WTF are you talking about? ...
(so if you go into the card shop on the high street, you don’t think you’ll see anything like it?)
... NO!...well..yes I suppose I’d probably find something similar… whats your point?...
(and cheaper?)
.. ummm… well …I guess so…yes it’d be cheaper… but…Oh!...
My brain finally shifted into gear…The image is certainly technically competent, but then so are most of the cards in the shops. It’s cute as well, but so are a lot of the cards in the shops. In fact many are better.
Nobody is really going to care that I took a lot of time and effort to produce this card, when they can just go and get one from the local shops which is just as good and a lot cheaper! Instantly! The only thing thats unique about this card is that it was produced by me! Other than that, its just an ordinary cute birthday card…
Now I know that some of you are going to be unimpressed by what must seem to you to be the ramblings of a mad man. But … I don’t care!
I’m now busily going though my other images and applying the same random logic to each and every one of them… if any are found wanting then there out!
Whilst i was undergoing this revelation, another part of my brain was thinking about what other people sold, Well thats what the Buyers booth is supposed to tell us, you say! Well yes, but it doesn’t really work does it? Only people who can really be bothered to photograph the goods they have bought and post the images, get in thier anyway. Thats only going to be a small percentage of works that have sold and its done from the buyers perspective.
It would be much more useful if someone created a group especially for work that had sold, then the sellers could promote themselves and everyone else could look at what actually sells on the bubble and hopefully learn from it!
Anyway back to my gallery, see you next Thursday! :o)
Dave Pearson
,
6 months ago
There’s already a place that shows what is being sold .
Trevor Patters..., 6 months ago
Yes Dave, but I think it would be much better as a group gallery.
Deborah Bowness, 6 months ago
Fab idea Trevor….why don’t you start a group that does just that?! I have been doing the same the last few days, going through my folio and being ruthless….just cause I like an image doesn’t mean everyone else does, and also getting rid of ones where something (I might not know what) is niggling me about the image, if I was unsure of something, then it was deleted. In the process I have got my portfolio down to 7, nearly 6 pages of work what I consider to be good enough. You work is awesome, keep doing what you do and hopefully the sale will come soon!
Darren Sharp, 6 months ago
Alot of logic has gone around in that head of yours Trevor and you are quite correct in what you say! Although the cards in the shops are cheaper they are not even close to the quality of these and as you say they have been created by artists that put alot of thought and time into them. I have sold a few items now and i leave the mark up amount at 20% so the product makes me a little money but stays at a reasonable price for the buyer and i think that helps with sales! Anyway there’s my 2 cents LOL!!!!!
Dave Pearson
,
6 months ago
What would make it better as a “group gallery”? It seems to me that it would have the same (if the other way around) problem as the buyers’ gallery—you’d be reliant on people joining the group and adding items. Moreover, people could add items that haven’t actually sold (in other words there’s nothing to stop people from fibbing).
The sales activity monitor, for those who care what other people are selling, gives you a honest and dispassionate report on what has been sold. Seems to me that it’s pretty much what you’re after.
Miss Misery, 6 months ago
i agree that it is the ultimate compliment , when people buy your work, i dont know if this is true or not but arnt most of the sales to other bubblers not the general public ?if this is the case then the shop prices become irrelavent , because all bublers know the love and effort that goes into these pieces . my god that was quite intelligent of me for this time of day !
Trevor Patters..., 6 months ago
Dave, the buyers’ booth sales activity monitor is close to what I’m after.. however it only shows you the last 7 days worth of sales, its a log and nobody gets to discuss anything about their sales in it. The bubble is supposed to be a community of artists that share both their technical knowledge and expertise, a community that has a vested interest in promoting itself. If people don’t want to share or join in or be honest with the rest of us then thats really up to them, but I don’t think they will be in the majority and in anycase it would be verifiable up to a week later! People are always posting sales reports in their journals so why not have a group to showcase their successful pieces of work?
Trevor Patters..., 6 months ago
I suspect you are right Peter, I certainly bought some of my own and other peoples work to give to family and friends for Christmas. I guess my point about the birthday card was that there was nothing special about it, it wouldn’t look out of place in the local card shop, it was devalued by it’s own mediocrity, to sell something on here I think it needs to be either very unusual, unique or beautiful. But I’m not sure anybody really knows and hence my call for a new group!
Dave Pearson
,
6 months ago
If you think a group would work, it’s probably best to call for it in the usual way-
BuddyH, 6 months ago
I agree, if you sell something to another artist,it’s abig deal. Seems like cards and t-s are the big sellers too and I hate making cards (I only have 1 listed as solely a card and the rest of my work probably doesn’t fit the format) If I sell a framed print I’m going out and party. I sift my work the way you do.